1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photoalignment method and a liquid crystal display utilizing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (“LCD”) typically includes two display panels where a field generating electrode such as a pixel electrode, and a common electrode are formed and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. The LCD generates an electric field in an LC layer by applying voltage to the field generating electrode, to determine orientations of LC molecules of the LC layer and to control a polarization of incident light, thereby resulting in the display of an image.
The LC molecules of the LCD may be initially aligned in a predetermined direction by a conventional rubbing process. Even in a vertically aligned LCD, liquid crystals have a pre-tilt angle by rubbing, to determine a direction of the liquid crystals at the time of applying the electric field.
A conventional method enabling the liquid crystals to have the pre-tilt angle includes a contact-type rubbing method of applying physical pressure to an alignment layer thereof by using a roller, and a photoalignment method for forming the pre-tilt angle by irradiating ultraviolet (“UV”) light to the alignment layer. There are drawbacks associated with the use of the conventional photoalignment method. One drawback is that the UV irradiation process may have to be performed several times in order to acquire the liquid crystal alignment of various directions. A plurality of masks is required when performing the UV irradiation process, to form a plurality of domains. These masks may be repetitively used based on the number of times the UV radiation process is performed. If the plurality of masks is misaligned, the liquid crystal alignment of the LCD may become distorted, thereby reducing transmittance.